What I’ve learnt: Deborah Harry

‘I’m vain about my looks. I wonder how people will respond to me when I’m an old prune’

Ben Machell

Saturday June 08 2013, 2.15pm, The Times

Deborah Harry

SARAH DUNN/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES

Ben Machell

Saturday June 08 2013, 2.15pm, The Times

Singer and actress Deborah Harry, 67, became famous in the late Seventies as lead singer of Blondie. After the band split in 1982 she pursued a solo music and acting career before Blondie re-formed in 1997. She lives in New York.

Being in a band can feel like being in a gang. Or a funny family. I’m the mother sometimes; I have to take care of people. The guys will come up to me before a show and ask: “Do I look all right? How’s my hair?” Stuff they assume a girl would know.

People seem surprised that I’m an excellent driver. But I am. Touch wood.

The UK all seems the same now. When we first started coming here, there were a lot of